The Scoundrel - Final days
by Blackwal
Summary: Qrow Branwen was a Champion, and now a Mentor to the next generation of Champions. His students a hardly perfect, a Mute with a mean streak, a Beast Woman who seems intent on proving something no matter the stakes, a Wayward Paladin that seems completely incompetent and worst of all his Sister kid.
1. Chapter 1

**To anyone who finds this story, this is an introductory chapter to my third RWBY/Remnant Story,**

 **This story is not going to see much of any attention until Well this is Different!? is completed.**

 **I'm simply posting it as a way to show anyone interested in my work what comes next.**

* * *

The Scoundrel stood on the cliff overlooking the Forest of trails, remembering not so fondly his own less than pleasant trip through the forest decades ago. When he passed through the forest it had changed his life forever, the forest had that effect on everyone well not the forest in some cases but what came after.

The time limit given to the challengers was rapidly dwindling to its final few minutes, so far the maze-like forest had expelled all but eight challengers as failures, Those expelled ranged from novices attempting for the first time ever to grizzled veterans who have attempted the forest multiple years in a row some of the challengers were even older than the Wizard who crafted and maintained the spell for the selection process.

With the time about to finish the Scoundrel turned to a magical window that only the five figures occupying the cliff could see, the window displayed the information of those still in the forest, pertinent stats, abilities, age, class, level you name it the Wizards spell would display it.

Normally this information is reserved only to one's self but during the trial, the five instructors could see everything with the exception of one window labeled **Backstory/History** , no matter how powerful a spell things locked in a person's mind were still exempt.

Looking to his right he looked at the other four members of his group to right in order stood his last remaining partner from his days as a hero as the populous calls him The Dragon Monk, next stood the Wizard his cane floating before himself and deep in a trance, then there was the Wizards student the only women to occupy this cliff the one titled as The Witch, and lastly stood the White General.

He felt terribly out of place he wore his tattered cloak over his grey/white leather armor and strapped to his back was his blade, he looked ready for combat and the other four looked ready to have a picnic.

Ignoring the others he took one last look at the window hoping to see a few more names disappear so that he would have a reason to leave like the others who occupied the cliff previously.

When the day began over twenty people stood on the cliff the exact amount needed if everyone participating in the Forest trial completed it, every four participants expelled from the forest the number on the cliff would diminish by one, the best year ever had had five instructors left and that had been the beginning of the most prosperous time in history though that was long before his life even began.

One instructor was all they had needed the past few generations for each year, more people than ever flooded to the yearly trial but more than ever they were eliminated.

His hopes of one more year's gap before he became the first instructor was dashed when the magical timer ended and eight figures still occupied the forest.

There was no fanfare with the completion of the Forest the occupants were simply removed from the forest by the Wizard magically and deposited unceremoniously on the Cliff.

The Scoundrel winced at the memory that came to him as he remembered the trip himself and turning he found the memory matched up quite well with what has happening behind himself.

Eight figures, no correction seven figures were in a pile on the ground, while the tangled heap slowly untangled themselves the final figure a Red haired female wearing half plate armor dyed to appear bronze stood off to the side, he didn't may much or really any attention to the character windows but he did remember this one he had been shocked by her stats and combat abilities, he hadn't investigated deeply aside from that first glance but he didn't find it hard to believe that this one could easily escape such a minor fall unphased.

The other seven managed to extract themselves he got a good look at the group and growled in frustration as he recognized two as family, he inwardly cursed in frustration as he looked at the pair his Niece's both were old enough to participate in the trials both had actually attempted multiple times the older this was her seventh year and her younger sister was her fifth.

This being the last year their father was eligible to be their mentor must have pushed them both to try harder than ever before and the sisters looked quite pleased with themselves.

 _Well, I won't have to worry about being their mentor next year they are are going to pick their Father._

The Wizard began to speak explaining the long process of what they had to go through with in the coming months and explaining the Mentorship and the choosing of the mentor.

Ignoring the speech entirely he looked over the others, two nieces and the Redhead in half plate next was a girl of small stature when he first saw her this morning through the window he had assumed she was a first year applicant which he guess was true she had never taken part of the Trial before but the age displayed was twenty-two same as his older niece the petite girl had a small facial scar and wore her white hair in a ponytail.

Next was an odd pair an older man early forties and a wanted felon, if he had failed the Trail he would have been incarcerated for his crimes but the Trial circumvents the kingdom's laws if successfully passed, at the criminals side stood a girl in her late twenties hair two distinct colors and standing close to the felon, the two were obviously a pair yet no one present understood their connection as the young woman had never been seen before.

Next stood two more figures that had apparently become friends in the forest, a blonde haired man in full plate who looked shocked to have completed the trail and the other was a beast man or more specifically a beast woman, black hair covered most of her exposed flesh, that if that wasn't obvious enough as most half-breeds had more hair then they knew what to with this one was a full blood given that she didn't have just the hair but other features as well, the oddly shaped iris's being a strong hint but the defining characteristic that made all present certain she was a full blooded Beastman was the second set of ears proudly displayed from the top of her head.

Having given everyone present at least a cursory glance he turned his attention back to The Wizard who was just finishing his speech.

More formal introductions were held and it eventually came to the selection process, if there was some order present in which each applicant was allowed to choose their mentor no one aside from the Wizard and maybe the Witch knew it.

"First up, uh... Neopolitan? Dear lady do you have a last name?"

The young woman with pink and brown hair shook her head in a negative fashion.

"Then please go ahead and pick your Mentor."

With no hesitation, she moved to stand beside the Scoundrel.

Everyone present was surprised with the gesture as the Dragon Monk was considered to be the choice preference to have as a Mentor, being lauded as one of the greatest champions to ever complete the forest. That is unless you spent half your life traveling with the man then you would happily choose to be as far away from the man as possible at all times.

Still, the surprise faded fast as the Wizard calmly announced the next to select.

"Blake Belladonna."

Without so much as a word or comment, a second figure appeared beside the Scoundrel as another applicant chose him over the much more prestigious choice.

"Jaune Arc"

The sound of his name caused the blonde male to jump slightly, after a moment's indecision where he looked to want to go towards the Dragon Monk with a glance at the female Beastman he made to stand beside her and be the third member of the group.

Two members of the gathering eyes grew wide in concern, Neopolitan chose the obvious less desirable mentor to guaranty that she would have the best possible chance to be paired with her own personal Mentor the felon with the shockingly Orange hair. The man in question frowned when the third person joined the same team as his Ward, not expecting the Scoundrel's group to be the more popular one.

"Weiss Schnee"

The Dragon Monk had his first member as the petite girl glared at the three who chose the inferior choice in her opinion and joined the dashing Blonde's side.

"Pyrrha Nikos"

The cliff fell into dead silence, the girl's name was unknown to everyone even the four who shared the cliff with the Wizard watching the trial. the Nikos name held commanding respect as it spoke of a survivor of the Mistral Kingdom that had been overrun a decade prior much the same as the Vacuo and Atlas Kingdoms had fallen the only difference is some of the Mistral people survived the annihilation of their kingdom and made their way to Vale.

The Red haired woman took a long look at the Scoundrels group giving it more regard than she had previously before making her choice and moving to stand beside the Dragon Monk.

"Yang Branwen"

To those watching closely, they would have noticed both Mentor's flinch at the mention of the name Branwen, both for starkly different reasons. However, no one was looking at the men and instead looked at the girl whose name had just been called.

The Young woman that looked like the sister he remembered except with golden blonde hair with a single raven black streak mixed in over her left eye and cascading through the mess of hair until it reached the end.

With an apologetic look to the other girl remaining waiting to pick her mentor, she moved to stand with the Scoundrel, completing his team.

"Ruby Xiao Long and Roman Torchwick, you two will be the remaining members of the Dragon Monks team."

* * *

 **Some odd teams I made their.**

 **No real story as of yet, just some fucked up teams and knowledge that Vale is the last Kingdom remaining.**


	2. Chapter 2

The previous day had been disappointing, the argument that ensued between the one called Torchwick and The Wizard had been enlightening and almost ended with the Orange haired man being arrested on the spot by the White General, that was stopped with the interference of one of his team, Neopolitan, she had calmed down the older man and after a short interruption where the two spoke or something to that effect as Roman spoke and Neo waved her hands at a blistering pace and the two broke apart and stood with their respective teams.

The issue settled The Wizard moved himself The Witch and the eight successful applicants away with a teleport ability leaving the three men standing on the cliff.

The General said a sincere farewell to the Dragon Monk and a simple scowl to the Scoundrel before he turned and left the cliff face.

"So, both champions at the same time and now Mentors, Pretty exciting right?" The Dragon Monk stood on the cliff clearly looking pleased with how the day had turned out.

"Yeah, best day ever, the only way it could have gone better if both your girls chose you, also why is Yang still using that name?" Qrow moved to the edge of the cliff and sat down producing from a far too small bag two bottles of a fairly expensive looking alcohol, pulling the cork from both he drank from one and handed the other to his companion who moved to sit as well.

"You know how little influence I have over them, both are headstrong but Yang is just blatantly so, even if we told her the truth about Raven I doubt she would believe us. Raven Branwen, The Blade, Hero of the One Hundred Day War, Champion of Vale, Guardian of the Temple of Beacon, etcetera is instead the Bandit Queen, responsible for food shortages on the frontier and tied to the deaths of over two hundred civilians and that's just the ones we know about. Yeah, Yang would never believe that and we can't take that risk regardless if the populous learned that a Champion could be capable of something like that then we might as well invite the Black army here ourselves and let them end us." Taiyang looked at the bottle in his hand and could see the spider web of cracks he had caused while talking as his grip tightened around the bottle.

"Well, that was depressing." Qrow grinned as he finished his first bottle and pulled forth another from his bag, pulling the cork he took a sip not really tasting the alcohol. "So why was I the more popular choice? and for that matter why did it seem like Ruby wanted to be on my team as well?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, Yang uses my fighting style so her choosing you makes little sense, as for Ruby that at least makes sense, she inherited her mother's weapon and considering its partner belongs to you she might be wanting to reunite the set."

"She should know that's impossible, Summer and I tried for years to give each other the blades and they never took, our respective weapon would always come back to us."

"So where will you begin Qrow? I'm thinking of taking my four off the west mountains for a few months, see what they are capable of." Tai looked to the West the mountains they were faint specs along the horizon and were notoriously dangerous.

"Well, I'll head East then simply to put as much distance between us as possible." Qrow grinned as Taiyang punched him in the shoulder.

"Ha ha, smartass, but seriously where are you taking one of my daughters." Taiyang asked in earnest.

"East."

* * *

The Scoundrel pulled himself from his bedroll and quickly donned his leather Armor with practiced ease, fastening his weapon securely to his back he stepped out of his lean-to.

He looked to the sky and smiled to see that the sun hadn't made its appearance yet, turning he found a tree among the dozens that surrounded his home that still remained intact, every other tree lay on the ground as a testament to his regular daily routine.

 _Hmm good thing this is the last tree I won't be back here for awhile I suppose  
_

The Scoundrel walked to the base of the tree and pressed his palm to the bark feeling around the trunk, as he finished his inspection he stepped back and with a powerful punch he struck the tree. The thirty-foot tall tree shook violently as smaller branches and limbs fell to the ground around him. He struck again and again slowly being showered by the entire contents of the tree to the point where it now stood entirely bare of bark and smaller limbs.

Smiling at the deformed trunk he stepped once to the side to be ninety degree's from where all his previous strikes had landed and punched one final time, the force from this punch was no stronger than any before it but the trunk of the tree shattered from the blow and began to fall towards him but with a bored swipe of his hand he batted the enormous tree away from not only himself but his small lean-to as well.

With his morning workout done Qrow packed up his belonging and once more dumped them into his tiny pouch that would simply deform its opening to allow anything to be placed inside or removed.

Prepped and ready he took to the skies flying with casual disregard for the world below him, he swooped low and landed on the roof of an elaborate estate, once more returning to his normal form he slipped in through a window and entered the master bedroom of the building, rolling his eyes as he walked through the room ignoring its unoccupied bed he approached the bathroom and swept it clean of all manner of personal hygiene products, even raiding the cupboards for towels all being placed inside his bottomless pouch.

Leaving the room behind he quickly passed through the bedroom again and opened the door to the hall with a single click, carefully pushing the door open and immediately closing it behind himself again with another faint click.

"Has he returned yet? I will speak with him before he has a chance to vanish for another Year with this whole Mentor nonsense." Qrow crouched down low and hid his form behind the railing.

 _What is she doing here, can her family get the hint._

Qrow looked in a panic to the door he had just exited from that would lead him to his bedroom and an open window to freedom as he heard multiple footsteps climbing the nearby staircase.

 _Can't go that way she will see the door move._

Qrow padded down the hallway and rounded a corner putting a modicum of distance between himself and his annoying pursuer, once he heard the door to his bedchamber open he quickly darted down the hall to reach the far staircase that he probably wasn't supposed to use as it was for the servants and cleaning staff, not that he cared, never had and never will, the opulence of his house and the fact it seemed to portray him as better than others were just a few of the many reasons on why he spent his nights hiding deep in the forests. Normally he would go months without returning to the city at all and longer than that without returning to this detested place.

Today, however, he needed to be here, it's where his four students would meet him, Winter knew this and was waiting to corner him but she would have to catch him first and he wasn't called The Scoundrel without good reason.

Qrow moved through the building with practiced ease, he might not spend much time here but he had made sure to memorize the layout of the building for the times he needed to be here, cutting through pointless rooms filled with furniture he had never once sat on and painting he wasn't sure the meaning behind he eventually arrived at the front entrance just as The Wizard and four very queasy looking individuals appeared on his doorstep.

"Good timing, Everyone got your things?" Qrow didn't wait for any acknowledgment to his question and instead walked past his confused students as he had just heard an angry shout from inside the structure behind him. "Everyone follow me we are heading to the West gate come on a lot of ground to cover." Qrow quickly walked through the gate heading East.

* * *

Qrow stood just outside the East gate of the city, smiling to himself that he managed to dodge another unwanted meeting with Winter Schnee.

"Sir I thought you said West gate? Why have you brought us to the East gate?"

"Jaune right?"

"Yes, Sir!"

Qrow stared at the Paladin and stifled a Groan. "Boy, what church are you from?"

"Sir, I am a trained Paladin of the Beacon Order!" The blonde snapped to attention the way those of his order were trained to do when dealing with superiors.

"First off, say Sir one more time and I'm making you eat your breastplate, second you're a champion now so you ain't a Paladin of any order aside from keeping Humanity alive, the tenants of your faith keep em to yourself, if anyone ask's your a Knight errant of the Kingdom of Vale, no Holy powers unless I say so. And to answer your first question I said West because I wanted my unwanted follower to go to the wrong gate."

"Thank you, sir!"

Qrow reached under the Blonde's breastplate and pulled it up into his chin, the motion was so quick no one present noticed what had occurred only that Jaune was now prone on the ground with an already swelling lip.

"What was that?"

"Thank you?"

"Better, same goes for the rest of you call me Sir and I'll make you regret it."

Qrow's eyes flitted over the group his niece who knew his temper on subjects like this simply nodded her understanding, Jaune regained his feet and nodded his confirmation as well, Blake the Beastwoman narrowed her eye's and opened her mouth. "Yes, Sir."

Qrow anticipated this, Beastmen liked to push issues that really made no sense, her body was tensed and ready for him to try and attack her in some manner but he chose simply not to, instead he brought his hands up and signed to Neo surprising the silent girl that he understood sign language.

It was a simple and silent gesture but Neo signed she understood his wishes.

Qrow looked back to the Beastwoman and with a smirked turned away from her and led the group away from the City of Vale and adding a great deal of distance between himself and the likely very irate Winter Schnee.

* * *

 **Another one up and in the Middle of an important event for my current main story.**

 **Tell me what you think, or not, back to Writing Well this is Different!?**


	3. Chapter 3

Silence was something Qrow enjoyed, his every action, movement, motion screamed silence and stealth, discretion.

Right now the world around him was a cacophony of noise and to make matters worse this was Jaune and Yang's best efforts at Stealth.

Neo understood him on a level greater than anyone else as she wasn't just silent, with her inability to speak she was invisible to him and he loved his mute protege more than anyone else.

That love might have extended to the fourth member of his troupe if the Beastwoman would work that stick out of her ass and actually do what she was told without trying to challenge him about it.

 _Why did you even enter the god damn forest, everyone knows god damn well the outcome if you succeed you are stuck as a subordinate for the next couple years of your life until your mentor deems you ready to take the next step._

Blake could move as silently as Neo and likely due to her heritage was able to make the noises of the forest work in her favor, the quiet rustle of leaves in the wind would cover Blake as she moved through the shadows as Qrow sought for the sake of his sanity to impart his first lesson upon his protege.

Silence was golden if Taiyang the Dragon Monk could learn to be silent, Qrow believed anyone was capable of it, that was at least until he had tried to teach Jaune and Yang the simple lesson.

Five days east of the City and Qrow had called for a stop, his poor battered eardrums had had enough of the constant noise from the five following him.

A week had passed and Neo and Blake had passed his training easily enough both finished his challenge by the third day, the next four days the pair had spent doing physical training, a regime Qrow knew would keep the two women busy as neither had the right muscle mass to efficiently handle it, every day they would return to the camp exhausted covered in sweat and grime but neither issued a complaint, likely smart enough to realize their mentor wouldn't care and also that both likely realized that their task was more rapidly than either could comprehend was improving not just their strength but stamina as well.

Now the eighth day had come and Qrow was staring in frustration as the two blondes once again failed his course due to him hearing them from well over fifty feet away, the criteria to pass his test was to be within five feet of his person without him hearing anything. Every time he heard a noise even with his eyes closed he would unerringly throw a stone and strike the offending noise.

So far his record today was Yang nine strikes, Jaune seven strikes, four dead squirrels, and one wild pheasant that Blake was now plucking the feathers off of before preparing the bird the be their meal for the day.

"Si... Qrow," Jaune looked to his mentor with fear, he had slipped up multiple times in the days calling his mentor by the taboo term and each slip had earned him a bruise or a half meal portion or some other form of torture. "I'm just not made for this, you won't let me remove my armor or use my powers to dampen the noise, I don't see how this is possible for me." Jaune stared at the ground ashamed that he was forced to admit that he couldn't pass such a seemingly simple trial.

"As I have already told you removing your armor is pointless, you need to be able to move quietly in any situation, the means to do so will save your life more than you would ever expect. You wouldn't strip out of your armor or cast a cantrip every time you needed to move through a room silently, and before you claim a cantrip is hardly an effort to cast let me ask you this, is the spell silent?" Qrow knew the answer, the cantrip while simple required a word to perform, the word could be spoken in a whisper but there was nothing Jaune could do to hide the flash of radiant energy that signaled a divine spell had been cast.

Jaune had no answer, and instead of arguing resigned himself and returned to the edge of the one hundred foot ring his mentor had made around himself and started again.

Qrow smiled, the sole male member of his group may not be the most promising of the bunch currently but he understood his place and would work hard to improve himself, the Beacon faith wouldn't have coddled him especially if he managed to raise himself to a Paladin's rank, he just needed to learn that now that he was a potential Champion skills that the temple never thought to bestow upon him were needed.

Qrow turned to his niece who had taken the interruption as an excuse to move forward rapidly, to those watching she had apparently made no noise, to him though she sounded like an undisciplined army, without wasting a movement he flung a rock catching her between the eyes as she fell backward cursing in pain.

"This is Bullshit! What the hell is the point to learn to move like you, not everyone wants to spend their lives skulking in the shadows, my mother never did!" Yang stared at her Uncle in frustration annoyed at this seemingly pointless task figuring it was beneath her but also frustrated that she appeared to be the worst among the group at it, even the Paladin was getting closer than she was.

"Your mother didn't do this training, that is true. Though that doesn't make you exempt from it, you know why?" Qrow watched his niece squirm under his penetrating gaze. "Your mother, my sister was the best of us, she didn't need to do something like this because she did it naturally, better than me even being the who 'skulks' in the shadows, you aren't your mother, hell the only 'Branwen' thing about you is your last name." Qrow felt no remorse stating the fact, Yang was not her mother, aside from a few purely physical similarities Yang could not be farther from Raven if she tried. Watching Yang as she slowly rose to her feet Qrow felt like she might do something rash but another trait that she clearly didn't inherit from his sister won out, she relaxed and while she still glared at him in fury likely regretting her choice in picking him she returned to the starting line to begin again.

"Neo, Blake come here."

No sooner had he spoken both appeared in front of him Neo stood staring in interest while Blake hung back, interested in whatever he had to say yet trying to appear indifferent, Qrow simply rolled his eyes and reached into his pouch pulling from its depths two sets of weapons.

The Wizard had been gracious enough to supply him with information and equipment while they traveled further east, and this morning the weapons he had asked for appeared before him, in total he had four of these magical weapons that would help the training of his students.

Looking at the two girls he tossed each of them a weapon, being magical weapons he could alter the weapons to be any form he wanted, he could make them extremely heavy or incredibly light, flimsy and bendable or solid as a rock. Right now though both weapons looked like simple quarter staves, each girl deftly caught the weapon and looked at him.

 _"I do not fight with a staff, I use hidden blades."_ Neo signed to her mentor but she didn't discard the weapon.

Blake simply stared at the offending weapon, she chose to say nothing letting her actions speak for her as the staff clattered noisily to the ground, Qrow turned and flung a rock into the distance and heard a muffled curse from Jaune.

Looking back to the Beastwoman, she was now crouched on all fours hands and feet tensed to move at a moments notice razor sharp claws tipped every finger and toe.

"Pick up the staff." Qrow said idly, not expecting Blake to listen to his instruction.

Blake sneered at the discarded stave. "I don't need such a cumbersome thing to defeat her." Blake did not speak with animosity towards her opponent, it was her simply stating a fact, her heritage would easily allow her to not only be faster but many times stronger than a normal opponent, the fact that Neo had passed the forest only raised her slightly above the rest in her opinion.

"Fine have it your way, well come on, both of you attack me." Qrow watched as they looked at him in confusion, both had expected to fight each other but the shock wore off quickly from his little announcement as Blake launched herself at him bodily swiping madly with her claws, no skill behind her actions simply instinct as she swiped at him in fury.

Qrow watched the laughably unskilled attacks with boredom, he hadn't expected much he remembered his first session against his mentor and that had been a humbling experience to a cocky teen. With a simple punch weaved in between Blakes flurry of swipes he caught her in the back of her exposed neck the force driving her into the hard earth as Qrow held back as much as he could with the strike but there was only so much he could restrain himself, the difference in their strengths was currently to vast.

Qrow gave her credit though Blake took the blow like a champ and got back up again, she was set to resume her attack as well but Neo stepped forwards and while she appeared unsure of the large weapon she brought it to bare, she used her small frame to her advantage as she swung the staff from the maximum distance.

To one not accustomed to fighting with a pole her strategy seemed sound, to him though it was simply the first stages of her learning a new weapon, Qrow watched as the staff swung by harmlessly as the way Neo wielded it robbed it of its real power, the slow swing now past he stepped in and swung hard driving his fist into the small woman's stomach far harder than he had hit Blake, after the blow he struck again this time on her cheek this time even harder than the first.

Neo's diminutive frame fit the ground hard and she remained motionless for several long moments, Blake looked in horror at the seeming murder of the young women and stepped back in fear as her mentor and current murder looked at her with a bored expression. "You really should collect your weapon, imagine what would happen if I hit you like that without The Wizards protection." Qrow motioned to the motionless Neo who now that the shock wore off rose to her feet, no bruise or mark was present anywhere on her body with the exception of some new dust coating her outfit.

Neo felt she should have been dead, the first blow to her stomach felt like it had shifted organs and cracked multiple ribs, potentially even damaging her spine, but as the pain from the blow hit, it also vanished immediately, the second blow was much the same, she had felt something like several teeth detach from her jaw and more bones crack under the impact but then the pain and damage vanished, she had laid sprawled on the ground feeling the inside of her mouth with her tongue making sure everything was where it should be.

She had then brought her hands up to inspect her body but she found one hand still clutching the stave, it felt odd, her palm was open but the weapon remained in her hand only when she brought it in front of her face to inspect it did the weapon immediately lose its connection with her skin and she dropped it right on her nose, the heavy staff made her eyes water from the impact.

Neo grabbed the Stave again and rose to her feet, she understood what the weapon was now and with an impish smile looked at her instructor who was currently speaking to her beast-woman partner.

* * *

 **Ouch!  
**

 **Thank god for Muggufin sticks that negate all damage you take.**


	4. Chapter 4

"Think you can manage it today then?" Qrow looked at his last remaining student of his training to move silently.

Yang, fumed but kept her mouth shut learning a vocal response was him simply taunting her at this point so that he could pelt her with another rock instead she stood at the perimeter and began to move forward.

With a grin Qrow turned his attention away from his Niece, knowing that she was close and it was simply a matter of time now, and what a time it had been, his other two female pupils had completed his course is under a week and the heavily armored Paladin had managed it the following one. Being beaten by the Paladin had humbled Yang enough to reinvest in the goal and she improved rapidly but also began making more mistakes as she was frustrated at being last, now two weeks later she was about to get it.

 _A full month, well you are still doing far better than your father did. Not that I'm gonna tell you that but you're going to beat him by an entire month._

His attention turned to his other three pupils sparring against each other, the melee was a confusing mess of sloppy attacks and overly fatal blows as all three wielded unrealistic weapons that they could barely lift in some cases.

Jaune wore a pair of gloves that were so heavy he struggled to keep up his guard let alone retaliate, whenever he managed to connect the merciless weight of the gloves was removed for an entire minute, an incentive to keep attacking.

Neo had a staff again, this one had a chain on both ends and a heavy weight at the ends of those, he weapon was manageable to lift but every time she swung to attack or defend the wildly swinging weights were as much a threat to her as they were to her opponent.

Blake's weapon was fairly simple to look at, a riding crop, it had no bizarre features just a simple leather riding crop completely unmodified by the enchantment inside of it. She darted in between her adversaries and on each pass she would land multiple hits, though ever since an unfortunate hit to the face from Neo's unwieldy weapon she had begun to focus more on attacking Jaune finding his painfully slow swing's entertaining to dance around as she slapped him repeatedly with her wholely ineffective weapon, at least to him, his plate armor and chain mail coif prevented any damage.

The fight was comical to him but it also served a purpose, team building was important and building strong bonds with nonsensical stuff like this went a long way in making them at least more friendly with each other, and that was more needed right now than any other training he could give them.

Neo went through the motions of what was probably an ideal Pupil to him at least, but as far as her teammates she treated them as scenery, whether they were present or not mattered little to his mute pupil, though that barrier was already falling away, the Mute had taken an interest in his Niece and had non-verbally given her some help on learning how to move quietly, Though that might also be that Neo thought the final person performing the task was wasting her time and sought to intervene he wasn't sure.

Blake would interact with no one, she kept entirely to herself when there wasn't a task she was required to partake in.

Well almost entirely to herself, it was none of his business what she and the paladin did in the evenings.

He was gravely concerned about her personality, while Yang might be Raven's daughter the two shared no real traits, the same could not be said about Blake, If things were left unchanged he could see how Blakes life would play out and the outcome looked like it could be frighteningly close to his sisters.

Jaune was probably on the best terms with everyone among the group, Qrow wished he had paid more attention to him during the forest trail, or at least spent more time on his character window's while they were available to him as he was beginning to suspect he had underestimated the Blonde Paladin.

His Niece hadn't had much chance to interact with the others but Qrow had no real worries about her, she had always had an easy time getting along with others, learning simple lessons well... that was improving.

Thinking of his Niece he extended his senses and found her to be surprisingly close, under fifteen meters, not her best record in terms of distance but it was a new record in terms of speed, he hadn't heard her yet so he kept his attention focused on the three others in front of him.

Jaune finally managed to catch Blake with the most glancing of blows which reset the weight on his arms and he exploded with power, unfortunately Blake had been on the receiving ends of one of these before and immediately when she felt the graze she had fled from the encounter, her riding crop would not dissuade Jaune and she had been forbidden from resorting to her own unarmed combat, every other session she had tried to use any of those skills inherent to her Beast heritage had earned her a rock to the forehead.

Qrow felt a hand touch his back. "Good work Yang." Qrow tossed an item to Yang, simply another nondescript token that the other three recognized as the formless shape their training weapons take when not in use. "Everyone line up." Qrow held the master item and in an instant the other three weapons lost all characteristics and became a simple foot long rod.

Jaune was the first one to line up in front of him standing at a rigid attention that would take years to bleed out of the man if it ever truly did, next was Neo who slid silently into place her demeanor showed interest in possibly getting some real training, Yang was third though she seemed annoyed with his lack of praise at completing the task she still stood with a smile on her face glad to be done the task, lastly was Blake.

Qrow stared at Blake, she matched his glare with a fierce gaze of his own.

He was tired of the stubborn attitude.

"You four have been a group for just under two months, in that time I have learned enough about you that I can honestly say one of you will not pass my trials, ever."

The group glanced at each other, well except for Neo, the mute was confident she wasn't one her mentor was referring too, the other three glanced among each other though both Yang and Jaune ended up looking squarely at Blake and Blake after a moment's confusion simply turned her attention back to her Mentor with a glare so angry and cold that a lesser man might have balked.

"That being said, no single person has ever failed to become a Champion at least not on their own. Failure to become a Champion rests not just on your own shoulders but those of your teammates, if one individual lacks the ability to pass, as a group you lack the ability to pass." Qrow looked at each member of his party, in turn, making sure each understood the meaning of his words.

Neo nodded immediately and her gaze turned to focus on Blake, Jaune and Yang who were already staring at her both frowned as Blakes expression didn't change, she simply continued to scowl at their mentor with as fierce of gaze as she could muster.

"Neo, Yang, Jaune. Pack up the camp site and head two days East, wait for me there."

For the first time, Blake' expression changed from the scowl to a look of concern as her mentor looked at her with an impassive expression, his gaze never left her as the three others packed up the camp and disappeared heading East.

Jaune brought up the rear of the group and turned to look behind him in concern once before leaving the clearing behind him, with a sigh he turned and followed his other two companions East.

* * *

"Belladonna, you know I know that name." Qrow stepped forward his hand reached into his bottomless pouch.

"I find that unlikely." Blake stood her ground watching her mentor cautiously.

"Ghira and Kali Belladonna, Guardians." Qrow pulled an item from his pouch a small trinket wrapped tightly in cheesecloth fabric.

Blake flinched at the word Guardian.

"You know first hand what the outcome of a failed Champion is don't you."

Blake nodded her ears flattening to her scalp, her instincts flared warning her to feel threatened. "Yes, I know."

"Then I find it surprising that you seem intent on repeating their failure."

"MY PARENTS DIDN'T FAIL, THEY WERE BETRAYED!" Blake refused to listen to anyone criticize her parents like they knew the whole story.

Qrow stopped, his hand closed tightly around the cheesecloth bag in in his hand. "I wonder, do they feel that they were betrayed? or have you simply had an idea fed to you that they were betrayed." Qrow raised his hands asking for peace not trying to offend his protege even if he simply wanted to grab her by the neck and slap her until she grew up but he figured his arm would get sore long before the opinionated Beastwoman would listen to him.

Blake squinted at her mentor looking for a sign of deceit in his voice or actions, his choice of words and phrasing made finding deceit difficult. "What do you mean? My parents were betrayed by their 'Human' partners. Every Beastman knows the story."

"A single generation and the story is already widely known, well I suppose when you are the last two Beastmen to pass the forest trial you might develop a degree of fame that doesn't quite match the accomplishment." Qrow looked at the cloth in his hand and with a moment's hesitation tossed the light object to his protege who caught it deftly. "Thanks to some digging and a few favors I don't really want to talk about The Wizard was able to secure that from me."

Blake unwrapped the cloth to find only a simple metal rod that fit easily inside her palm. "What is this?"

"That is the recording of your parent's training, The Wizard record's everything that occurs's during a mentorship of new Champions. When a Champion reach's the point where they are close to being the next Mentor we are given access to these so that we may study them in preparation of being mentor's our selves." Qrow reached into his pouch and pulled out a bottle of spirits and carefully inspected the label. "Hey, do you like 'Rapier Honey Mead'?" Qrow was now sitting on a log fishing around in the to small pouch both of his arms had disappeared into the magical entrance and it looked like his face was going to follow shortly as well before he pulled back and appearing in his arms was a sturdy fishing rod and a tackle box. "Here take to Mead... it will help with the transitions and you might want something strong once you're done afterward." His gifts given Qrow turned from the clearing and headed to the nearby river intent of fishing while he waited for Blake to finish with the magical item.

* * *

Blake looked at her mentor disappear through the trees heading to the river and then glanced at the small metal rod in her hand.

The implications behind the rod caused a great deal of color to rise to her cheeks, with a groan of embarrassment she sat down and tried not to think of how many times she had accosted the Paladin in the dead of night to take care of her needs.

Her mentor had given her no instruction on how to use the magical device so that meant it was likely as simple as concentrating.

Find a comfortable place to sit Blake sat down and held the magic rod before her concentrating on it, suddenly her perspective shifted and was presented with the back of an uncommonly large man, Blake froze in terror, she only knew one person as large as that in front of her right now.

Ghira Belladonna stood unknowingly naked before his daughter, though the mental image displayed by the magic artifact was simply a recording, Blake could not interact with Ghira and vice versa.

A much smaller pair of arms tried were wrapped as far around her father as they could reach and lower down at her fathers hips a set of legs were firmly locked behind his back, Blake looked up and could see just barely poking over her fathers shoulders a pair of ears similar to her own except that one was pierced twice.

* * *

Qrow smiled wickedly to himself as he cast his line into the gently flowing river as an ear-shattering scream of disgust rocked the surrounding vicinity.

* * *

 **Another one done.  
**

 **Simply some world building and a deal of fun at Blakes expense.**


	5. Chapter 5

Jaune's shield absorbed the powerful punch Yang sent his way as his attacker was caught off guard as a blunted throwing knife caught her squarely in the forehead while at the same time Jaune felt his knees buckle as a pair of blunted knives connected against the back of his legs, the throws hadn't only been accurate they were powerful enough to cause the reaction the third combatant wanted.

His knee's no longer supporting his frame and coupled with his heavy armor he was dragged to the ground by gravity alone. With a groan, he rolled over and pushed himself to his feet and watched in envy as Neo and Yang moved around the clearing with a degree of grace and finesse he would never be able to match.

He also envied the use of the magical training weapons that Qrow had let them keep while they were split up. The majority of their training was done with the weapons that they were now able to modify, but they had also instructed them to do actual mock combat so they didn't get risky and overzealous because of the magical weapons.

As he regained his footing and collected his thoughts he turned to watch the two women battle it out trying to find a way back into the three way spar.

The women were not evenly matched and Jaune knew that Neo while being smaller and weaker, was far quicker and just generally more skilled than Yang.

Their fighting styles made them great partners though, both fought in close, Neo with dozen's of hidden blades, she was also quite adept at throwing them when the situation called for it and her accuracy was unparalleled. Yang fought with a set of modified Katar's. The flat triangular blade was on a small mechanical device with allowed the wielder control on whether the blade was shown of hidden deep inside the wrist guards.

Punch's and kick's flew from both combatants as Jaune having caught his breath moved to return to the spar when a familiar black bird descended from the canopy of trees and turned into his mentor.

The sight while still fascinating to watch didn't hold the same mystic as the first time he had witnessed it over a month ago when he came to check on them for the first time after sending them away so he could be alone with Blake and whatever training she was undergoing.

The fourth aspiring champion had yet to return to the group on any of the mentor's trips and Jaune wished he knew what was going on, and that wasn't entirely his libido talking either.

His mentor now fully human again looked once around the clearing and nodded, this simple action he had repeated every time he visited them, again an action he didn't understand but hoped that he would eventually.

The Scoundrel wasn't The Dragon Monk but he was his mentor and he had already learned a great deal from the man, even if he couldn't put a lot of it into practice yet.

"S..." 'Cough' "Qrow, how are things going with our fourth will she be joining us again soon."

"Nope."

"Aww look at the noble paladin, all sad that his favorite mount is still busy somewhere else." Yang walked up to the two men and much to Jaune's continued dismay made light of the knowledge that Blake's near nightly assaults back where they had been a single campsite weren't as quiet or secret as he thought they were.

"Yang apologize to the man."

Everyone froze, Qrow had been around for similar jokes in his other visits but had, for the most part, ignored the crude jokes that his niece made, yet this time he chose to intervene.

"Come on Qrow it's just some harmless fun, I'm trying to lighten to mood is all."

"Does the mood feel lighter?"

A quiet almost palpable unease swept through the clearing and the three aspiring champions could tell that something was wrong instantly.

Jaune stepped back a half step and dropped his training sword and with the same motion drew his actual blade and moved, slashing hard and fast at the figure in front of himself. The silver blade whistled harmlessly through empty air where his mentor had stood moments earlier.

Qrow's form vanished and a deep black miasma filled the entire clearing in moments, the air grew cold and damp, chilling the three to the bone in moments.

Jaune felt two figures bump into his back and knew that Neo, Yang and Himself stood in a tight circle facing outward, a small click told him that Yang deployed her blades and he simply assumed Neo had at least one of her dozens of hidden knives held and ready to use.

"Either of you know what type this is?"

A click came from Neo, it was her way of saying no when they couldn't look at her, it was a system in development but it was good enough for the current situation.

"I don't know the exact type but it has to be a human variant and it has some level of not just intelligence but magical ability, Use your powers heat and light up the area before we freeze."

"I can't" Jaune felt his hands begin to grow stiff as the heat bled away from them.

"It's canceling out your divine power's?"

"No, just Qrow told me not to use them."

"So you're going to let us freeze to death because of an order from someone whos not even here?" Yang wanted to turn and smack the paladin but didn't feel like exposing her back to the black freezing Miasma.

"He's your Uncle, give me a little insight then, is this a test or are we actually in trouble here?"

Yang paused for a second at the question from her teammate, Qrow was typically indirect with his behavior towards others but so far his lessons had been straightforward to the extreme, he set a goal and expected the goal to be completed before anything else was done. This attack didn't feel like the way her Uncle had been teaching them but it also conflicted with how she had been taught how the Black Legion operated. "This isn't Qrow, I don't know what this is but I think we are actually in trouble."

Jaune smiled. "Alright, you're taking the blame then if this is a test." Jaune reached forward and placed his free hand along the flat of his blade and whispered an off rehearsed prayer and his blade shimmered a bright white, with a single fluid motion he drove the blade into the ground consecrating the area around himself and his companions.

The black Miasma recoiled from the area immediately around the three and through the mist a dozen or more figures appeared, a mixture of beasts with two humanoid figures standing far at the back, red eyes glowing through narrow slits in their armor.

* * *

Qrow paused in his fishing for a moment, his senses, tuned into the surroundings noticed a faint ripple, the most minuet of changes, without a moment's hesitation the fishing rod and tackle box were left abandoned by the river as Qrow dashed along the well-worn trail back to the camp site.

Speed wasn't his forte, silence was, so when he entered the clearing at what others would think was a blistering speed he only cursed himself for being too slow, he drew his blade from behind his back and swept it in a powerful arc, a splash of black gore spilt onto the ground as his blade cleaved through a smiling Blake Belladonna who had been sitting on the forest floor meditating as she had almost every day for the past month.

With moments pause to collect the item his Blake had been focused of for over a month he snapped his head to the side and raced into the forest, his blade lashing out unexpectedly as he ran, any time he did so a corpse fell to the ground already forgotten by the champion as he carried himself further forward.

Qrow silently broke through the tree line into a spacious clearing his blade cleaving the head off of a stationary creature and his elbow connected with the neck of a second, a loud crunch signaling not only his arrival but also the death of the second creature.

As one the creatures in the clearing turned and regarded the intruder with glowing red eyes, Qrow had no time for the Black legion minions, they were about as bright as lemmings and he waded into them with a level of skill few could match, the thirty or so creatures in the clearing we cut down in moments, few even had the time to react as Qrow danced through them never wasting a sword stroke as he moved.

Pausing as the last body fell to the ground lifelessly he ran to a prone form on the ground at the far edge of the clearing and quickly rolled her over, Blakes was deathly cold to the touch but breath still escaped from her lips and her chest rose naturally, with a sigh Qrow stood and pulled a cloth from him bottomless pouch and wiped the gore from his blade before the acidic blood had a chance to damage his weapon. Next, he reached into his bag and pulled out a handful of thumb sized vials each a vibrant blue in color, calmly he stowed away all but one and very carefully removed the seal off the one he kept and poured it down Blake's throat.

Coughing mixed with cursing exploded from Blake's lips as her eyes flashed open and she sprung into a fighting stance ready to fight for her life.

"Calm down Hellcat, fights already over, I need you to tell me what happened if you remember anything."

Blake's eyes shot around wildly, her heart pumping wildly as her muscles tensed so hard they began to cramp before all at once the energy fade from her in an instant, whatever Qrow had given her had very short acting effects. "I... I'm sorry I don't remember anything, I was focusing on the cylinder and then I remembered getting incredibly cold and uncomfortable and then you woke me up with that elixir."

"Alright, I didn't figure you would be able to tell me any more than that." Qrow looked around at the clearing and reached into his pouch again, this time pulling out a large vial that looked like a bottled fire, with a casual toss the vial broke open and the lifeless forms of the Black Legion were wholly engulfed in flames, the magical concoction could even be seen in the distance spreading to the forms of those he slew on the way here. Turning himself back to Blake he noticed her confused expression. "Can't let the blood rest on the ground for too long, taints the soil, enough of it gets on the ground and this place will be barren and lifeless in a few years." Qrow stood and with as smooth a motion as he could picked up Blake and cradled her in front of himself in a Bridal Carry position.

"Hey, stop, wait, put me down." Blake struggled against the grip even going so far as to strike at her mentor, though even in the way he carried her her attacks to his face met empty air.

"Stop struggling and hold on, we have to reach the others as quickly as we can and I can't leave you behind and you would never keep up with me." Qrow dashed off at a frightening pace, cord-like muscles pushing him through the forest as he crossed miles of terrain in mere minutes, somehow all the while making next to no noise as the world turned silent around the two as they traveled.

* * *

Blake, as much as she didn't like the situation she found herself marveling at the sensation of the journey, she felt weightless and the world fell silent around her as time slipped by. The world became a blur, every time she tried to focus on something ahead of them the object of her focus would be passed before she knew it. Gradually she felt the pace slow and with a single motion, she found herself standing behind a tree leaning on it for support, her chest heaving violently as she felt like she had forgotten to breathe for long minutes. The world at large swam in front of her and she sagged down to the ground her head spinning and her stomach on the verge of emptying itself as she fought to control the wave of nausea that threatened to overwhelm her.

Her mentor stood beside her, she looked up to actually admire the man. In the month they had been separated from the others of the party, thanks in large part to the magical device but also Qrow's rather indifferent treatment of her she had changed some of her opinion's that she had once felt so certain of.

As she admired her Mentor she noticed one thing, he was breathing heavily, by no means did he appear exhausted and sweat hadn't even begun to form on his face yet but he was winded.

 _Just how much effort did it take for him to carry me who knows how far in such a short time and he's only winded slightly what kind of a monster is a true champion._

* * *

Qrow looked out from behind the tree and watched a foul Black Miasma as it circled around a bright and vibrant core which three figured stood clear as day.

 _Consecrated Ground, clever move but also a stupid one, oh well I'll let it pass this time as it probably saved their lives while I helped Blake. Now, where is the leader of this group?_ Qrow scanned the Miasma looking for the faint outline of the camouflaged Black Legion minions, the beasts were the first and most easily identified, they lacked the knowledge and intelligence to be able to hide themselves inside the cloud properly. The humanoids took longer as their usual give away the glowing eyes were turned away from his position it took him long minutes to locate the two real threats of the group.

The beasts could be dealt with by his protege's he just needed to remove the Miasma from the equation and that would even the playing field.

Closing his eyes and concentrating Qrow's mind gave him an image of a young woman hundred of miles from where he now stood, his other Niece sat calmly, her attention focused on something he couldn't see but she smiled happily enough that he turned his focus away from her and to the weapon resting at her feet, the other half to his weapon. Qrow focused intently and he watched as Ruby stood in panic as her weapon slowly faded out of existence in front of her very own eyes and as Qrow opened his the metal pole has appeared in front of himself.

Smiling that the trick still worked even with Summer dead Qrow slid the pole into his blade and together they formed a massive scythe, the magical properties imbued in the complete weapon were not completely understood by anyone, even The Wizard when he studied the odd weapon couldn't explain everything that it was capable of let alone the fact that when completed it gave Qrow and Summer wildly different abilities, abilities which Qrow was about to put to use.

With the Scythe complete in his hands a grey Aura surrounded him appearing to be a massive robe that hid his body from sight, as the robe grew to encompass his entire form, his body vanished entirely, with an inhuman sigh The Reaper traveled through the air and stopped right above the Miasma, those within it neither noticing or sensing his presence, to them he was invisible, even to Blake who had witnessed the entire transformation she could only faintly discern a grey shimmer in the air and even that she was unsure of, at least until a scythe, violent and beautiful, appeared from the shimmer of air and a spray of gore appeared from inside the Miasma as the figure maintaining it hung in the air suspended by the floating weapon.

The Robed figure simmered into existence and dropped from where it had previously hung in the air, the first body slid from the tip of the scythe with a sickening 'squelch' as Qrow drew the massive weapon back, his next opponent reacted by drawing forth a sword and shield readying itself to ward off the next attack, the cloak of grey energy reappeared encircling the black armored figure, no noise or action escaped the grey shroud. When the shroud vanished from sight again the figure it had enveloped lay prone on the ground its form twisted into a grotesque shape.

Qrow planted his weapon in the ground and let his concentration lapse, immediately the Scythe he wielded vanished and in its place stood his sword. Breathing heavily from the exertion of summoning the weapon and fighting against the effects of the Miasma even as muted as it was with the enhanced abilities of the completed Scythe he felt a level of exhaustion he hadn't in many long years, with a discrete motion he wiped away a trickle of blood from his nose and turned to watch his disciples.

They were freed of the Spell the Miasma had put of them, a deep layer of subconscious uncertainty and fear that even the consecrated ground couldn't entirely dispell had assaulted them rendering them either unwilling or unable to attack, now with the person maintaining the spell dead they were free of its effects and it took them no time to assess the situation and assault the remaining Black Legion minions, Qrow sat back and watched as the three who stood in the consecrated ground moved outwards and engaged the Legion Beasts.

The fight was nothing special, and if Qrow had to critique it he would have called it some of the worst fighting he had ever witnessed, but he figured he would let it slide right now solely on the fact that all four of his disciples were alive.

Turning Qrow checked on Blake who looked on the verge of being sick still but her eyes no longer swam wildly which he knew was an improvement. "How are you feeling, still queasy right?"

"Yeah... How did you move so fast?" Blake's mind grew sharper as seconds ticked by and her stomach returned to a normal position, she wanted to understand how they had traveled so fast seemingly covering two days worth of walking in mere minutes.

"Simple training, any Champion or Guardian is able to do that much, just isn't common knowledge. Anyways are you good to move?" Qrow watched as her face paled slightly at the mention of moving. "Not like what we just did." His simple assurance seemed to comfort her as she let out a relieved breath.

"If it's just simple walking or running I'll be fine."

"Good, get read then I'm going to round up the others." Qrow stepped away from Blake and walked hurriedly over to his other three disciples. "Good thinking with the the Consecrated Ground." Qrow paused as the three turned in unison and watched him with paranoid gazes, it didn't take him long to understand the hesitation. "Lemme guess, this whole thing started with me showing up and acting out of character?" There was no response from the three aside from a quick set of glances exchanged between them.

"You could say that, sir!"

Qrow smiled at Jaune even as he kicked a rock squarely into Jaune's breastplate, the apple sized rock knocking the heavily armored man off his feet and launching him back several feet.

"Yeah, 'cough' your the real one." Jaune struggled to his feet feeling along the front of his armor and frowned slightly when he found where the rock had impacted and the noticeable dent it had made.

"Good now if that's cleared up Dispell your spell and get ready to move we need to get away from here as quickly as we can." Qrow kept his voice as even as he could but the three must have noticed some subtle difference as none made any argument or complaint and instead gathered their belongings.

Watching them deconstruct the campsite he took another bottle of the liquid flame and toosed it onto the pile of corpses as he watched them burn in the edges of his vision a smoky cloud began to form.

"Hey Tai." Qrow spoke before the cloud became distinct.

"Qrow is everything alright? Ruby told me her Weapon vanished."

Qrow paused and made sure his students were to far away to overhear anything. "No Tai, I just ran across a Slinger and a Knight plus over fifty assorted minions."

"A Slinger? how far east have you traveled?"

"Less than a months walk from Vale."

Tai's jaw set firmly at that. "That's not good, did you kill it?"

"Couse I did, didn't take any chances, you know what happen's every time I take the other half of the weapon."

"Right, right. Sorry, it's been awhile since you have become 'The Shroud'. So what's your plan, report this to The Wizard and return to Vale?"

"Actually my Paladin just used a Holy spell and well you know what that means."

Tai sighed and looked away from the spell for a moment. "Yeah, I know what that means, get him clear I'll deal with contacting The Wizard for you."

"Thank's Tai I owe you one. Let Ruby know I'm sorry for stealing her weapon and that I will make it up to her later."

"Oh trust me she's going to hold you to that, she already put two and two together when I told her you had taken it and her mind is already spinning with the possibilities."

"That's frightening but I need to get back to what I was doing."

"Right, you take care Qrow."

"You too Tai." Qrow turned from the dissipating cloud and was glad to see that in the time of his short conversation the camp had been entirely deconstructed and the three stood ready to go, Qrow led them to where Blake rested and quickly led all four from the area.

* * *

The five traveled in silence for hour's, the four disciples were not told to remain quiet but some unspoken order felt like it had been issued. Qrow had led them from the Camp site in silence and seemingly at random would pause in the silent march and listen intently to the surroundings.

Any path or sense of direction they had had been lost when the sun finally dipped past the horizon and the world was engulfed in a quiet darkness.

With the loss of light they had assumed the days travel had been all but finished but Qrow simply kept moving, weaving his way through the darkened landscape with ease, his disciples somehow found following him in the darkness easy even despite the visibility being negligible from the scattered light the shattered moon was casting on the world.

Their leader paused at the edge of the tree line, the forest had finally ended and a huge grass filled plain stretched out before them.

The Four disciples, even with the darkness covering the landscape stood in awe of the landscape, they had grown up inside the city of Vale or the surrounding countryside, all four knew nothing but forest and city and so much flat open terrain had them stunned. The moment was broken when their Mentor stepped forward in the grasslands and reached into his bottomless pouch.

Qrow withdrew his arm and inspected the object he had pulled out, the vial was the color of midnight, even in the blackness of the night sky the vial stood out, it seemed to absorb what little light there was and deepened the darkness that surrounded itself.

"Jaune come here."

The paladin walked forward exhaustion clear on his face. "What's in the vial, it doesn't feel right." Jaune stared at the substance he felt oddly attracted to it and repulsed at the same time.

"Something I don't like using." Qrow carefully pulled at the wax seal along the stopper of the vial, working with meticulous care to open the small container. "This is going to hurt, a lot, like you're going to hate me for this but this is also the only thing that's going to save our lives."

"Are Holy Power's really that dangerous out in the wild?"

"Without training, yes, they are deadly to you and anyone around you. With Training you would be an army of one, the Black Legion would cower before you if you could master yourself like those who did during the golden age." Qrow pulled two more items from his pouch, a brilliant white powder that shone with a radiant light, he then poured a single drop of the vial onto the powder. Carefully he handed the Vial to Jaune. "Just hold that and be careful with it." Next, he took the other item and poured it on top of the white powder taking care to not cover the single drop of black liquid eventually the white powder was obscured by a faint red powder with the single black drop remaining barely visible.

Qrow let out a long slow breath and refocused on his task, taking the mixture he carefully took the vial back from Jaune. "Place both your hands around my hand, taking care not to touch the mixture and I need you to consecrate it."

Jaune did as he was told and felt the mixture resisting the consecration, he repeated the chant necessary for the spell and still felt it resist, long moments passed as Jaune repeated the chant dozens of times each time he felt the consecration resisted until gradually the effect changed but he knew somehow the effect hadn't been completed so he continued to repeat the chant, eventually it became easier and easier, also he wasn't sure how but he felt his exhausted body recovering rapidly from the days events with each new cast of the spell.

"Okay." Qrow pulled his hand away from Jaune's and tightly squeezed his fist, when it opened again inside was a perfect white sphere no larger than a blueberry. "How are you feeling, refreshed?"

"Yeah, I'm not sure why though I should be exhausted." Jaune marveled at how terrific he felt currently.

"Well, thats not gonna last, eat this before the effect wear's off and try to be quiet while you do it."

Jaune stared at the small object with apprehension but followed his order and placed the pill inside his mouth and swallowed.

* * *

 **Having a ton of fun with this story mixing together RWBY and a home brewed DnD world.**

 **Rapidly getting to the meat of the story that I'm going to focus on telling and throwing around all kinds of hints for those interested later on.**

 **Some hints will be huge and obvious other are very subtle and easily missed but its the way I enjoy writing.**

 **Anyways with this done gonna head by to Well this is Different!? for awhile, the newest chapter is proving challenging for multiple reasons that I won't get into but its going to be a incredibly long chapter you have that to look forward too.**


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